Facebook has hired the team behind Gowalla, the location service that lets people share where they are using their mobile phones.

Gowalla started out three years ago and offered a service that allowed users to share their location with friends and strangers by "checking in." Facebook will wind down the service in January.

"About two months ago, my co-founder Scott and I attended F8," Gowalla o-founder Josh Williams wrote in a blog post. "We were blown away by Facebook's new developments. A few weeks later Facebook called, and it became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together. So we're excited to announce that we'll be making the journey to California to join Facebook," he said.

"As we move forward, we hope some of the inspiration behind Gowalla - a fun and beautiful way to share your journey on the go - will live on at Facebook, he added."

Financial terms were not given.

Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January. Gowalla plans to provide an easy way to export users' Passport data, their Stamp and Pin data (along with their legacy Item data), and their photos as well.

Williams clarified that Facebook was not acquiring Gowalla's user data.